One aspect of this invention relates, in general, to data sets used in computing environments, and in particular, to representations of such data sets.
Typically, the manner in which a data set is represented is forced on the user. A data set is a flat file, but a hierarchy may be imposed on the data set. There are different types of data sets, including sequential (a.k.a., non-partitioned) and partitioned data sets. A sequential data set is considered one file, and a partitioned data set is viewed as a collection of sequential data files (called members) plus a directory.
A partitioned data set has at least two levels of hierarchy and a sequential data set has one or more levels of hierarchy. As an example, for data sets employed by the z/OS® operating system, offered by International Business Machines Corporation, the name of a sequential data set may include periods and each period is a delimiter for a hierarchical level. As an example, HLQ.AAA.BBB is the name of a sequential data set, which has three levels, as indicated by the two periods.
Since, in this case, a hierarchy is imposed by the periods, different types of data sets may resolve to the same structure. For instance, a sequential data set HLQ.AAA.BBB resolves to the same structure as partitioned data set member HLQ.AAA(BBB), e.g., hlq/aaa/bbb.